The Death of Kudo Shinichi
by kinzies
Summary: Kaitou Kid makes a house call.
1. House call

_((Disclaimer: Guys, I don't own Detective Conan.))  
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_Tap-tap! Tap-tap!_ It was annoying to say the least. _Tap-tap! Tap-tap!_ The small detective sat up from his mat, having given up on any kind of sleep. He glanced at the window to see a short piece of paper taped to the outside adorned with a very familiar caricature. He didn't bother to see what the paper said as he pushed his covers away and climbed to his feet to investigate what had been making that awful racket even if he had a pretty good idea as to who and what it was. He easily snuck passed his guardian's- Mouri Ran's -room and out into the living room to slip on his red sneakers on and slide out the door into the cool night air.

The small figure moved quickly down the stairs of the place he was currently living and took several steps into the the empty road to get a good look at the road. The sight that met his eyes caused him to frown. He couldn't see it perfectly by any stretch but he'd know that white top hat anywhere. The think that annoyed him most, however, was not the idea that Kaitou Kid was now making unexpected house calls, but that now he had to find someway up on to the roof.

As if having read his mind a rope dropped down the side of the detective agency. Conan let out an ill-tempered groan before giving into the thief's silent demand. He approached the rope carefully before tugging gently to ensure it was secure enough to bare a small seven year old boy safe passage up. Immediately after the tug he felt someone tug back. Apparently, Kaitou Kid had plans to hold the rope while he climbed to ensure it didn't come loose.

With a small sigh the miniature detective as expected and began his climb to the roof. '_Good thing it's so late.'_ He couldn't help but think as gravity attempted to pull him back to the ground, the rope biting into his palms. _Or else this would look highly suspicious._

By the time he reached the roof he was well out of breath having spent nearly all his energy in attempts to not slip while climbing three stories. The Kaitou Kid should have known better than to ask that of a seven year old!

"-Ah sorry, Tantei-kun." The thief stated sheepishly as he watched the younger fight to catch his breath.

"Bastard." Conan panted, hands on his knees. "I'm not-not built for that kind of thing right now. Next time call my cell phone. I'm sure you have the number." He gripped, wiping a bit of sweat off his chin. The Kid merely flashed one of his signature cocky grins.

"Sorry, I was saving that for an emergency." He indirectly confirmed the detective's theory. Conan, however, looked less than please.

"If this wasn't an emergency you'd better leave or I _might_ be tempted to throw you off this roof." He threatened. Kid saw right through the empty threat as his only response was a mirthful laugh.

"Ah, But Meitantei, you'd never be able to accomplish such a thing."

"Oh?" Conan raised an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure?"

"Because, to do that you'd have to do the impossible and catch me!" He grinned gleefully. Conan felt his face twitch and fall into a very flat, unamused expression at that reasoning and bent down to crank up his shoes.

"O-oi, oi!" The thief objected. "Don't you want to know why I'm here?" His shoes clicked and Kid paled- not that Conan could see it with his face over shadowed as it was. "Even if it's to bring you a case!"

"..." Conan clicked his shoes off, happy to see the thief looked relieved and silently snickering at the show of weakness- Kid had woken him up and called him out into the cool night air while he was still in pajamas. Which meant that Conan didn't have his belt on him and no 'Hellish' soccer balls as the thief had once called them. "What kind of case?"

"Only your favorite-murder." Kid baited, watching the smaller cautiously. He'd learned long ago not to take his eyes off this kid for an instant.

"...I'm listening." Conan stated after seconds of consideration.

"I want you to investigate the death of Kudo Shinichi."


	2. Dental Records

_((Disclaimer: Still don't own it. _

_A/N: I would respond to reviews but I have work in the morning. Maybe you'll get those for Chapter three. Also- this is definitely movieverse :P))_

"_I want you to investigate the death of Kudo Shinichi" _ The thief's words seemed to hang in the air with a thick silence as the other tried to wrap his mind around what Kid had just said.

Surely, he'd heard wrong. Either that, or it was a different Kudo Shinichi. It wasn't possible that he meant _The_ Kudo Shinichi because last the detective checked he was still alive, and very much _not_ murdered.

"What?" The detective felt the word tumble off his tongue before he could stop it as he stared, dumbstruck at the white clad thief.

"Yesterday, a newspaper in Tottori printed that Kudo Shinichi had been found dead in an abandoned warehouse scheduled for demolition." Kaitou explained.

"O-oi... you said Tottori?" Conan felt his blood starting to run cold. It could just be a scary coincidence but-

"Mm, they claim that the dental records match and there's no mistaking it." Dental records. This was going to be all over the news very soon. Before he could even think about what he was doing he'd pulled his phone out and was quickly dialing in Ran's number. Before he could finish, however, the phone was snatched away by a white gloved hand.

"Hey!" Shinichi protested, trying to snatch it back.

"I'm sorry Meitantei, but they have dental records- records I'm sure you know are fake considering the fact that _you_ are Kudo Shinichi. Whoever said the dental records match has either been paid off or they're part of this. Someone is trying to lure you out." Kid said seriously as Conan remained quiet. "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to call your precious girlfriend, as I'm sure they'll be monitoring the agency."

"But-" Kudo faltered. He hated to admit it, but the Kid was right. Whoever published that he was dead did it for a reason- and not a nice one. He bit his bottom lip, thinking about how badly this would effect Ran. He couldn't let her think he was dead- there had to be a way around this. But... that paper was printed in Tottori and that was not a good sign. Even if it seemed too obvious to him it really wasn't something he wanted to chance.

"It's for her own safety that she go on to believe you to be dead." The thief reasoned. "Please listen to me, just this once." But Kid was asking hell of a lot more than he realized. Shinichi knew he could never stand to see Ran be so upset. He _needed _to fix this. He sat in thought a moment- trying to think of ways he could prove to Ran he was still alive without revealing his true identity.

"...We have to expose those dental records as a fraud." Shinichi stated. Kid nodded, pleased with this idea.

"Precisely- but you must do so under the pretense Kudo is still missing." And that was going to be the hard part. Anyone who claimed to be witness to seeing Shinichi after the allotted time of death would probably find a dark criminal organization at there doorstep. ...That was a thought.

"...What did the article say the time of Death was?"

"Two days ago." Kaitou stated calmly.

"Ran is going to know it's a fake then." Shinichi explained, unable to hide how relieved he was. "I talked to her yesterday." Now it was Kid's turn to look unamused as he knew this would probably cause some sort of problem later on- especially once it hit the news at six in the morning that he was dead. With a small flick of the wrist he tossed the phone back to it's owner, his eyes narrowed dangerously. He didn't have to say it- the moment it was back in his hands, Shinichi was dialing.

Just as Shinichi had probably predicted, the first try went to voicemail after several rings. Rousing Ran had never been an easy task but right now it was imperative that he get through. He snapped his phone shot and tried again. Once more, his efforts were rewarded with her answering machine. He couldn't leave a message- a voice mailbox like that could be too easily hacked into and really there was enough risk using a cellphone.

On about the fifth try he finally managed to wake the sleeping Ran and put the bowtie a few inches from his mouth, having already adjusted it to the proper frequency. "Ran?" There were several moments of silence and Shinichi feared she had just fallen back asleep but then, finally-

"Shinichi? Don't you know what time it is?" He could hear the yawn in his voice and turned away from Kaitou to allow himself a small bit of privacy.

"A-ah... sorry..." He said sheepishly. "But, this is is important. Please listen carefully." She groaned in the background and he could only assume she was sitting up as to not be tempted to fall asleep on the phone.

"I'm listening." She finally muttered sleepily. He pressed the phone closer to his cheek as he thought about how best to explain everything.

"Tomorrow, it should be all over the news that I was found dead in a warehouse, so I need you to-"

"What?" He could practically feel the worry laced in her voice and bit his lip. He hated this. Hated the whole situation. He was going to be able to call her after this- he wouldn't even be able to use his real voice or try out temporary antidotes. He didn't even want to think about what Haibara would say about all this. "Shinichi!" Her voice brought his thoughts back. "Shini-!"

"Don't worry! I'm not really dead!" Shinichi hurriedly explained as he heard the distinct sound of Kid face palming at his lack of tact. Conan shot him a glare before turning back away. "So I need you to-"

"Shinichi." Ran tried to get his attention. He must not have heard her as he didn't stop explaining what he wanted her to do.

"And I need you to call Hattori and have him call-"

"SHINICHI!" She interrupted, finally getting his attention. He was forced to pull the phone away from his ear and winced, turning back to glare at Kid for snickering at him.

"O-oi, don't yell in my ear." Shinichi responded. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say as Kid shook his head and the reaction he got from Ran was less than desirable.

"What do you expect? You just call in the middle of the night to tell me the papers are going to print that you're dead. You don't even explain why." She hiccuped. He felt his heart sinking. He'd made her cry? But what did he do? He was just warning her about what was coming.

"O-oi... you're not... crying are you?" he asked quietly, listening to the sniffles on the other end. He swallowed thickly as she took a moment to respond.

"Why shouldn't I? You haven't told me anything. Just that someone's going to print your dead. Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Huh? O-of course not!" Shinichi stammered.

"You left saying you're off on a case and when finally get to come home you have to leave again. You can't even have your name in the papers and suddenly-"

"Hey... c-can I stop by?"

"What!" Kid spoke up, not liking where this was surely going. That little brat. He grumbled about stupid detectives while he sat down on the roof to wait for Conan to finish screwing everything up.

"Of course you can but-is someone there with you?" Conan shot Kid a dirty look and laughed nervously into the phone.

"J-just a client. I'm almost done here so I'll see you soon. Bye!" He clicked the phone off and let out a sigh as he snapped it shut. "Oi. Can you be a little quieter when I'm on the phone?" He asked. Kid gave Conan an equally annoyed look at that and crossed his arms.

"Tell me, Meitantei- how do you intend to meet with Mouri-san while stuck like that?" The look Conan gave him told him everything. This time it was the thief's turn to sigh. This was not going according to plan.

"Alright. But while I explain things to your lover you call your friend from the west- you might find you'll need his help." Conan snorted at that idea and shook his head.

"You really think I'd leave you alone with Ran?"

"This is hardly a good time to get jealous, Tantei-kun." The thief sighed, exasperated. "You'll be in the next room 'sleeping' so you can keep an ear out, good enough?" Conan gave him a long hard glare before begrudgingly agreeing to the plan. "Now, I have an idea as to how to get you back in without raising her suspicions."

"Oh-H-hey! What are you-!" He immediately objected as the thief swooped down on him and covered him in the cape. When he pulled it away Conan found he was now covered in dirt. What was he planning? He looked up at the thief, only to find he'd already disguised as the high school detective of the east.

"Trust me Conan-kun!" The thief winked, giving Conan a nervous feeling in his stomach.

oooooOOOOOooooo

Kaitou followed the detective up to the third story living quarters with hands in his pockets. He grinned evilly and waited for Conan to ring the bell before bending down and swooping him up, holding him like one would a foot ball. The kid let out a quick 'Oi!' before the door opened.

"Shinichi-Conan-kun!" Ran's eyes immediately went to the boy in her childhood friend's arm. 'Shinichi' nodded and set Conan down, putting a hand on his head so that he wouldn't run inside.

"I caught him trying to sneak back in." He explained. "You've got a long way to go before you can sneak past me, Conan-kun."

"Shinichi!" Ran rounded on him. "Don't encourage him! He's too young to be out at this time of night!" 'Shinichi' shrank back and gave her a small, nervous nod. She really was scary. "Conan-kun." She used her scary neechan-voice, looking down at the boy. "What were you doing out so late?"

"R-Ran-neechan! I-I found Shinichi-niichan." The look he received told him very clearly he was still in trouble.

"What were you doing out so late?" She asked again, giving him a very stern look.

"I-I heard a noise outside and went to see what it was." He spoke quickly. Well, it was was the truth, really.

"Mou..." She sighed, defeated. "You should have woken me or Dad up. What if it was something dangerous?" He gave her the best puppy dog eyes he could manage before hanging his head, ashamed he hadn't thought of that.

"I-I'm sorry." He muttered, sounding very much like the small child he resembled.

"Anyway," Ran sounded less angry. "You should get back in bed." She was going to let it go? Kid's plan to get him in trouble failed?

"Yes Ma'am!" He nodded quickly and dashed in to the room he shared with Kogoro and shut the door behind him. The moment he did he let out a heavy sigh and slid down the door to his bottom. He sat there long enough to listen to Ran offer 'Shinichi' coffee which the thief accepted and asked her about her well-being.

The real Shinichi pulled out his phone and quickly located Hattori Heiji's number before giving it a call.

A very groggy and irritated kansai detective picked up at about the fourth ring. "Oi, Kudo, _some_ of us are trying to sleep."

"Hattori- I need to talk to you about something important!" He stated, rather than apologizing for waking him up. Heiji didn't seem surprised as the next thing Shinichi heard was a noise suggesting that the other detective had sat up.

"Alrigh' 'm listenin'"

"Tomorrow, all across Japan it'll be in the news that I died about two days ago."

"WHAT!" Came the shocked response. "Who's been spreadin' that rumor?"

"It's not _just_ a rumor, Hattori. They claim to have dental records."

"O-oi-but that means-"

"Ah, someone is trying to lure me out. Someone in Tottori."

"You don't think-"

"I-I can't think of anyone else that could get away with something like that. They-they might be trying to smoke me out. Which is why I need you to prove those records are fake. Without revealing you know for a fact that I'm not dead." Hattori was silent, thinking over the plan.

"What about neechan?"

"Kid's talking to her disguised as me, as we speak."

"Alrigh' I'll start on it as soon as I wake up and get a look at th' papers." Heiji agreed.

"Thanks." Conan went to hang up but stopped at the sudden "Kudo!"

"Yes?"

"...Be careful."

"Ah." He snapped the phone shut and stored it back in his pocket. Now, to listen in on Kid and Ran.


	3. Find the Thief!

((I apologize for the long wait! I started writing the pregnancy fix with Kaito and Aoko and go distracted. Anyway! Here's chapter three!))

When morning broke Shinichi found it was entirely impossible to get out of bed. Both because he just flat out didn't want too, and because his sleep had been interrupted several times since he went back to bed after Kaitou Kid's unexpected and shocking house call. The first time he was reawaken he had been expecting as it was his parents- worried and calling to make sure he was okay. He assured them both he was just fine and he did Hattori were both looking into proving those dental records fake. He had a brief argument with his mother on the matter but his dad took the argument over and managed to convince her to see it her son's way. Finally, they both agreed to go along with the idea their son had died until it could be proved false without revealing their son's current identity. Yuusaku even offered to help look for loopholes but Shinichi turned him down since it was his case.

The next time he'd been woken up was the phone ringing in the background. Rolled over to check the time on his phone and saw that it wasn't even six yet and tried tune out what he knew was probably a hospital or police or maybe even his parents informing Kogoro or Ran- which ever one answered the phone, that Kudo Shinichi's body had been found in a ware house. And, seeing as his parents weren't in town at the moment, Ran and her father were probably the ones asked to come and identify the body. Ran had obviously decided to let Conan sleep until that last possible moment as she had not yet come to wake him up.

The third time he'd been woken up it was nearing seven in the morning and his phone was buzzing by his ear. It had to have been one of two people he decided, grabbing the blasted thing and checking the caller ID on it. Sure enough, the name Hattori was displayed on the screen and Shinichi pushed himself up into a sitting position to take the call and flipped the phone open, doing his best not to sound like he was just waking up.

"Yo." He stated simply and informally.

"Kudo!" Heiji began immediately, clearly more awake than the detective was. "Ya said yer body was foun' yesterday in some warehouse in Tottori right?" He asked seriously, the tone in his voice suggesting he was looking at the newspaper as he spoke. Conan raised an eyebrow. He was still wasn't that awake but he was awake enough to recognize the suspicious undertone. Thinking back on it- something wasn't sitting right. If Kudo Shinichi had been found dead in Tottori how was it exactly that Kaitou Kid knew before his parents did? Surely the authorities would have called his parents before it would be printed in any kind of paper.

"Yeah…" Shinichi said slowly, already getting the feeling he knew where this was going. He was also sure he didn't like where it was going as finally, the bizarreness of what Kid had said was starting to sink in. "At least, that's what Kid told me."

"Yer gonna wanna here this then." There was a bit of rustling in the back ground and Shinichi assumed he was folding the news paper and leaning back in his chair the way he usually did when they discussed cases. "Kid's story and an' what th' paper says don't match up at all. According to what I have you were found in a warehouse in Yokohama and- git this- at six this mornin' " The Osakan reported, leaving his friend stunned. Of course, Heiji didn't blame him- he'd feel pretty stunned too, seeing as now that the news was out, it was pretty clear Kaitou Kid had intentionally lied to him. What's more was that the only way Kid could have warned Shinichi about what was to be published- before the body had even been discovered meant that Kid knew someone was going to publish it. But that left two questions on the minds of both detectives- how and why? "Listen- 'm skippin' out on school today and taken and next available train to Beika- don't do anythin' 'til we can meet up- understand?"

"A-ah…" Shinichi responded, nodding his head despite the fact he knew Hattori couldn't see the movement. "I don't know if I'll be here- Ran and Occhan are likely the ones that'll be asked to identify my body- And I'm sure the victim has been made to under go plastic surgery to look like me." He reasoned, his mind still stuck on Kid and his vast knowledge about things he shouldn't have known about until about six this morning when everyone else was just finding out.

"Leave a key under th' mat or somethin' and I'll just wait inside until you get back." He offered, turning back to the paper from the sounds of rustling again. "I'll probably crash on th' couch or on yer bed if that's alright-M' pretty tired." he confessed. "I tried to do some kinda research last night on the matter but I was looking' in the wrong place. Not to mention you weren't dead until this mornin'"

"Oi… how long have you been up?" Conan blinked- It was close to five when he had gotten the call from his mom and dad- So Heiji must have been up and checking into things before then if he came up empty.

"Oh, well… after you called earlier I got worried and couldn' sleep." He admitted sheepishly. Conan sighed and waved it off like an annoyed friend trying to hide the fact he was touched at the concern the other had for him. It wasn't like Shinichi wouldn't do the same if he knew Hattori were in a similar situation. In fact, Shinichi probably would have done the exact same thing and gotten extremely frustrated and suspicious when his search yielded no results.

"Well…" Conan started, thinking over how his day would more than likely go. "I'll see you in a few hours." He finally stated, snapping the phone shut. He didn't bother to lay back down just yet as his mind was still fast at work and trying to reason out what would make Kid want to lie to him about something so important such as his own death. He tapped the phone against his chin as he sat in thought, nearly jumping out his skin when he saw that Haibara was calling him. He had meant to call her when he woke up, but Heiji had gotten there first. His held his breath and flipped the phone open- making sure to hold it a good six inches away from his ear.

"KUDO-KUN!" The angry mini-scientist yelled, causing the detective to wince as he chanced pressing the receiver to his ear.

"A-ah… Haibara." He stammered nervously. "I-I see you've read the news." He could tell by her loud silence that she wasn't amused at all with his quip and waited for him to explain things before she decided to grab a gun and put him out of her misery. "Listen- I had nothing to do with this." He decided to get that cleared up right away. Still, the girl remained silent and Conan could feel the thin ice he was standing on cracking beneath his feet- the icy waters below him threatened to consume him whole if he wasn't careful. "Last night, Kid came by the agency to tell me Kudo Shinichi had been found dead."

"And you don't know why?" Haibara finally spoke, her tone icy and sending chills down the poor detective's spine.

"He thinks it's because someone's trying to smoke me out but something isn't adding up about what Kid told me- he said that the body was found yesterday in a warehouse in Tottori- but actually the body was found in a warehouse in Yokohama probably around the same time he came to alert me about the report. What it comes down too, is that Kaitou Kid _lied"_ Shinichi spat out quickly.

Haibara was quiet a long moment as she must have been running over everything he said in her head. She wasn't chewing his head off so that meant she probably realized he had nothing to do with this and was, for the time being, just the victim-literally. Conan got to his feet and started straightening out his blankets for when Hattori decided to crash on his mat before moving over to the door and sliding out. He made the quick discovery- via note on the bathroom door- that Ran and her father went to Yokohama without him and they'd be back soon.

"Kudo-kun." Haibara finally broke the long silence. "You need to find Kid and ask him why he lied." She instructed. As if he didn't know that- but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that he was the Kaitou Kid- not exactly someone he could look up in a phone book and writing an encrypted message through the newspaper would take too long and run the risk of someone deciphering it. Haibara briefly chatted with him about the importance of keeping their identities secret but otherwise didn't comment on the fact Kid had reported the body was found in Tottori. Of course, why would she- Haibara probably didn't want to give him reason to start snooping around over there. After a few formalities the two ended their conversation and Shinichi found himself at the desk Mouri Kogoro, seated in his swivel chair.

Shinichi set the phone down on the desk and leaned back in the chair- pressing his finger tips together and bringing his knees up in the same position Holmes used when he was deep in thought. He had now come to the point in his day where he tried to work out how to find Kaitou Kid without hanging out on a museum rooftop and waiting around from him to show. To do that, Shinichi realized, he was going to have to figure out Kaitou Kid's true identity which, in all honesty he had never really intended to do.

Sure, he had threatened that one day he'd figure out who was behind the monocle before taking it off but he had never really intended on following through. Shinichi had every belief that he could work out Kid's identity he had just never tried, Kaitou Kid wasn't violent- just annoying. He had never actually thought of the Kid case as a serious issue that needed to be immediately resolved- for Shinichi it was only a game of cops and robbers. While at a heist, he would give it his all to unmask and catch the thief- outside a heist? He didn't really care what the thief got up too so long as he wasn't hurting anyone.

Now, that he was faced with the task of finding the thief, however, he realized the task might be a touch more difficult than he had first given it credit for. Kaitou Kid was smart, after all, and he knew how to cover his tracks. Having few leads to go on, Shinichi decided to start first with what he knew about the criminal- even if it was surprisingly little there had to be something that people were over looking. No matter how good someone was, they were still human and couldn't cover all their tracks.

So, the first thing he knew about Kid was that he first appeared twenty years ago in Paris, France. Since the Kid he was most familiar with was not pushing or past forty he was able to assume that the kid from twenty years ago and the current one were not one in the same. Shinichi had seen Kid up close before and since Kid passed Nakamori's face test while disguised as the detective of the Eest he knew that Kid couldn't be more than twenty years old. That would make it impossible for the Kid now and the Kid then to be the same same person. So, the age group he was more than likely looking at had to be between fifteen and twenty.

The next bit of information he had was the fact that the original Kaitou Kid disappeared eight years ago after raiding the globe for ten. Given that Kaitou Kid usually sent out heist notices it wasn't too hard to believe that the thief would send out a retirement notice if he had no intention of returning- and since Kid did return, albeit eight years later, that led Conan to believe that the fist probably met with an untimely end and the second was probably his son.

Now, with that train of thought it was probably likely that the son would need to get in some practice and would do so close to home so he wouldn't have a long way to go incase of injury. The first time Kaitou Kid reappeared had been in the Ekoda district and he had struck their museum several other times in the beginning. He had hit a few other districts but Ekoda seemed to be favored. Therefore, Kaitou Kid probably lived somewhere nearby that district.

The next step was simple enough, he just had to hack into all the death certificates from eight years ago in the Ekoda area. Next he could eliminate anyone that died of natural causes that weren't sudden, such as heart failure. He could narrow it down farther by knocking out anyone female, elderly or younger than twenty. He also went ahead and knocked out those with preexisting heart conditions since he found it hard to believe someone with a heart condition would go around jumping off building as Kid was prone to do. He thought the same about an elderly person and anyone under twenty couldn't possibly have been the original Kid.

His search left him with about eighty suspects and he wasn't quite done yet. He was looking for the son of the original, after all, which meant all he had to do was knock those suspects that did not have children. Next, all he had to do was plug the last names into a student search after hacking into the Ekoda school district files and find a face similar to his own. It was easy but time consuming.

He had been at his search for hours already and finding a face similar to his own would probably take another hour. He boredly copy-pasted the next last name over to the student files and pressed enter- two girls and three boys- none of them looked even close to right. He tried again- three girls. Next. Five boys and still no matches. He resisted the urge to thunk his head on the desk several times and merely copy-pasted the last name 'Kuroba' into the search bar and struck gold.

"Think that's Kid?" Came a voice from beside him. Conan clicked the student profile, a little weirded out at how close a resemblance there was between him and this kid Kuroba Kaito. If Kuroba Kaito was the current Kid that would make the late magician Kuroba Toichi the original Kid. Kid was a master illusionist and master of disguise- a magician definitely fit the profile.

"Mm." He nodded, reading the small bit of information available. From what the school reported, Kuroba was a trouble maker from the words 'say go', a charmer, and the top of his class. Conan froze and twisted around to see Hattori Heiji hovering over him reading the information available.

"H-Hattori?" Conan stammered as his friend gave him a grin, clearly gloating that he had managed to sneak up on the little detective. "Geez, you could have knocked." The smaller grumbled- reaching for volume containing K's of the phone book. He quickly located the K's and ignored his friend's snickering in favor of pressing on. Soon enough, Heiji had let it go and was helping Conan- both of them skipping over any male names. Wait a second. The name 'Kuroba' was ringing a bell somewhere in the back of his head. He should know that name-he did know that name but he couldn't quite place where. Kuroba… The late magician was named Kuroba Toichi so…-Wait. Magician? Hadn't his mom said she and Vermouth had both learned their disguise techniques from a famous magician and he'd thought before that Vermouth's disguises were as good as Kid's. Was it possible that they had both learned from Kuroba Toichi? And if so, that meant that Kaitou Kid had a connection to the Black Organization- wheather or not he was aware of it, Conan didn't know.

"Oi, you find anythin' Kudo?" Hattori was still looking through the list of K's. Conan shook his head- he could explain his theory to Hattori after they had hunted down and found Kaitou Kid. He did, however, have a moment of genius and pulled up a file on Kuroba Toichi- it listed he had a son, as expected- Kuroba Kaito on June 21st of the same year Shinichi had been born and that after the magician died in an unfortunate accident his wife, Kuroba Chikage, never remarried. A conversation Shinichi had briefly had in the past with the thief led him to believe that Kaitou Kid's mother was none other than the Phantom Lady. If that were the case than his mother must have held some kind of intelligence and would have known that listing herself in the phonebook would be far less suspicious.

"Look for Chikage Kuroba." Conan told his friend- both detectives starting their search anew. He wasn't wrong was he? He'd gotten to his conclusion awful fast after all, but if Kid were still alive why wait so long to reappear? It was likely that the son, Kaito, had happened upon his dad's secret and took up the cape and monocle after him-but why? There had to be a reason, right? Boredom? Revenge? But then… why would Kaitou Kid want revenge? Well, he reasoned, guessing some more. If Toichi was the person to teach Vermouth the art of disguise than it would make sense that the organization had the thief killed after they were done with him. It was certainly their style- but so would be to kill the young Kuroba and the wife. It was possible, he supposed, that that accident hadn't really been an accident but a very clever trick devised by… someone.

"There!" Hattori pointed to a name. "I take it tha's Kid's mom?"

"Mm." Conan nodded, grabbing the agency phone and dialing the number on the page his friend was pointing at. Kaitou Kid found- now to force a meeting.


	4. Kaito's story

((hey guys! Sorry the update took so long! I'll be busy trying to update all my stuff and rewriting a few this week!))

Meanwhile,

Kaito leaned up against the doorframe as he peaked over to get a good look at what was going on in the next room. He shifted his grip on the unconscious girl in his arms and pondered all possible escape routes. He could get himself out of this easy. The problem was that he didn't want to leave the girl currently snoozing away anywhere they could possibly get her. He absolutely had to get her out first.

He took a calming breath to reassess the situation and glanced around the hall. There was a small window just across from him that he could maybe squeeze through but he wasn't sure that he could get them both out, and he wasn't about to shove her out a three story window. He glanced to the other side of the hall, the stair case in view. His best bet was to sneak down the remaining flights of stairs and carry her out the front door. Stupid girl, getting involved like this. He swallowed hard as he heard footsteps coming closer to his doorframe and held his breath up until the moment the person turned and walked the other way. He glanced into the room again, cursing the number of blind spots as he tried to see if everyone one was distracted enough he could slip right by the door.

The thief shifted again to gently set the girl down on her feet, keeping her in his arms so she wouldn't fall and gripped his card gun before firing at the fire alarm. It immediately came to life and started blaring emergencies and Kaito picked the girl up once more and pressed himself up against the wall as much as possible. He wasn't in kid guise but he knew better than to try hiding in plain sight with these guys. the men piled out of the room and luckily didn't spare him a glance as they went to check on the alarm and security cameras. That meant he had roughly five minutes to get himself and the sleeping girl out of the museum and to safety. He could do it. He hoped.

The moment the men had left the room Kaito took his chance and moved across the hall as quickly was possible without making any noise. he made it to the stairwell and immediately started down the carpeted steps, keeping a very firm grip on the girl in his arms as he didn't want to drop her. He moved quickly to descend down the last flight of stairs and used his back to push the door open and stepped out onto the first floor. Now all he had left was the front door. Feeling accomplished, he glanced around to make sure he was alone and started for it, relief starting to spread the closer he got. He reached the doors and moved out quickly, letting out a sigh as he did. It was over. He escaped the strangers and made it out with Aoko. What was bothering him the most was the location of the task force and most importantly, this girl's father. They had to be in the building someplace- obviously they hadn't accidentally stumbled into the wrong room at the wrong time. Stupid girl. It was only luck alone that Kaito had seen all of this.

"Don't think you've escaped just yet." A cold and unfeeling voice made the thief stop in his tracks. It was a trap. Of course it was a trap. How could it have not been? What's more was he still had ahold of the inspector's daughter. He gulped and turned to face the man. His hair was a light brown and he wore a pair of glasses on his unreadable face. "You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

"Of course not." Kaito stated, applying poker face so that he could look this man in the eye. "What are you after." He asked, his voice as unfeeling and unreadable as the man's expression. The man shrugged and stepped down a few stones steps a little closer to the thief and the girl. Kaito dared not move as he was sure there guns pointed at him from all angles- he could almost feel them even if he couldn't see them.

"We'd like to hire you for your… services." The man stated, still moving closer. Kaito tensed and held Aoko a little tighter as he didn't want this guy near her. When the thief refused to speak the man only continued. "There's someone we've been looking for over a year now- we'd like your help in finding him."

"Give me a reason why I should." Kaito growled, taking an involuntary step down. The man smirked and finally stopped just in front of the thief so he could reach over and brush a strand of hair from Aoko's face. He ignored Kaito's glare as he traced the smooth curve of the girl's cheek and then pulled his hand away.

"Because you seem quite close to this girl, Kid-san. You may be intangible- but we already know the address and normal daily routines of miss Nakamori Aoko. It would be in your best interest to cooperate." Kaito could hear the alarm blaring in the back ground as he stepped back again. But something was bothering him, in the back of his mind other than the obvious, something wasn't wrong. He kept his grip on the girl and grit his teeth, refusing to show fear. His immediate thought was that maybe he could hide her somewhere-run away and drag her with him-but that fantasy was smashed down once he remembered that would fall under the category of kidnapping. The man said something else but it was impossible to catch over the alarm's chime. Wait a second? Chime? Alarms didn't really chime- bells chimed. He felt the man's voice growing more and more distant before the whole scene had faded away and the thief opened his eyes, staring blearily at the cage in his rooms as his doves coo'd at him to get up.

Kaito sat up in his bed and realized with some relief he'd only been dreaming again. He pulled himself out of bed and moved over to the doves to feed them as he knew that was why they were trying to wake him. He scratched one's head very gently as he stared fondly down at her and she cooed her appreciation for the attention. The thief jerked slightly when he heard the chiming alarm and wheeled quickly around in case of danger-no… nothing. He let out a sigh and moved to his front door, finally recognizing the sound as a doorbell- his door bell. He took a second to stretch before finally taking a chance and pulling the door open. It was only a little after mid-day so it couldn't be anyone sinister. The person on the other side of the door was a little boy he immediately recognized staring up at him with big innocent eyes.

"…Hello?" Kaito blinked at the kid, eyes traveling back a little to see if anyone else had come with him. Just as he had expected, sitting by the curb on the other side of the street was a yellow Volkswagen beetle. No doubt the little brat intended to gain access to his home for himself and the professor by passing their meeting off as a coincidence. Something like the car ran out of gas or broke down or something ridiculous like that.

"Hello!" the brat chirped in that sickly sweet tone that made most people want to scoop him up and hug him-for Kaito though, he wanted to slam the door shut, lock it and escape out the back. That tone was never good news. Never. "Do you think you can let us borrow your phone? Mine's out of battery and my grandpa's car broke down." The brat continued, giving the older the creepiest puppy dog eyes he'd ever seen in his life. To anyone else though, they probably would be just enough to convince someone to blow up the moon or jump off a cliff. It didn't take any effort at all for the thief to compose himself as he made sure none of his discomfort was shown up front. He rubbed at his still sore eye a minute, sure that it had not gone un-noticed before giving in.

"Ah, sure." he managed to sound like a casual teenager. The brat beamed at him and Kaito couldn't fight a shiver at the look on the miniature detective's face. Gratitude mixed with triumph and arrogance. This could not possibly end well. He released the front doorknob and stepped back to let the brat in. He watched as Conan retreated to go and get 'grandpa' and felt a slight increase in his heart rate as the tanned detective he'd never formally met stepped out of the beetle. That little-He took a breath and didn't say anything as four people rather than two moved into his house. He grit his teeth and led them all over to the living room before looking them all over in turn. The brat was seated by another brat-less familiar than the first but still equally bratty. What was she doing here, anyway? The Osakan was seated on Conan's other side fixing him with a glare Kudo was probably proud of. And, seated in the armchair away from the others was the professor Kaito had heard about through the brat. He at least looked apologetic for intruding on him.

"Okay." Kaito started after locking the front door and glancing to the window to ensure the curtains were closed. "What are you all really doing here?" He had a feeling he knew and there was no point in denying it unless he wanted them to point out the evidence in that annoying way only detectives could do. Besides, he really had sort of expected this and had only hoped that maybe they'd be kind enough to give him time to wake up first. Geez.

"So we don't even have to force you to confess? That'll make things a bit easier." Conan stated, clearly the ring leader here-how could he have ever expected anything else? Kaito let out a sigh and sat down in the last available chair.

"You want to know why I lied." He voiced, sensing that the little detective was not happy with him. Not that he blamed him of course, lying about something on this scale would tick him off too.

"If you wouldn't mind explaining." The small detective said icily, making the thief cringe a bit as he sank back in his chair. "I appreciate that you warned me about the fake obituary but I'd have preferred you told me the truth." Geez, this kid was harsh. Kaito swallowed and hung his head. He knew the moment he'd lied to the Detective he'd eventually wind up at his doorstep desperate to find out the truth behind the obvious lie.

"I know it looks bad," He started, wondering how exactly to explain why he had to lie. "Right now, someone wants you dead, Kudo. They want to find you and then force you to find someone else." He explained, thinking a previous conversation over. Conan and Hattori both looked at each other and then to Haibara who was seated a little farther into her couch, a look of fear on her youthful face.

"…Kuroba, I think you'd better take us through everything from the beginning. It's imperative I know who's after my life." The young detective stated, pressing his fingers together and leaning forward in the chair. "If it's who I think it is, we're all in far more trouble than you realize."

.

…

...

…

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_Two Nights Previous_

_Kaito had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his gut about this evening's heist. He didn't usually feel nerves as he prepared for his shows but tonight he couldn't deny that something just felt wrong. He went over a quick mental check list in hopes that he might be able to think of what was making him uneasy but found he'd remembered everything so it wasn't that he was missing some of his equipment. He ran through the entire plan with Jii just to be sure he wasn't forgetting something there and afterward they ran through back up plans in case something went wrong. Still, for some reason he just felt wrong. Finally, he managed to convince himself it was nothing and took off to perform his heists as per usual._

_ But something did go wrong. Something went very, very wrong. In only about two hours later one of the task force members managed to plant themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time as they had over heard some vital information on a plan to catch the infamous thief Kaitou Kid. It wouldn't have been a problem if not for the fact that these people had guns and were by no means familiar to the inspector. The task force member was caught and knocked out with chloroform before they could even properly react._

_ By some stroke of luck or by some miracle, Kaitou Kid happened to have been stored in the air ducts above the room and managed to catch everything. He mentally cursed the idiotic officer for their bad timing and tried to think up away to rescue said officer. But, something else went wrong. Something that made his heart lurch painfully and fill him with worry and fear. The man that had caught the task force officer was discussing with someone Kid couldn't see about what to do with the trash. The man holding the officer removed the helmet only to watch as fluffy, chopped brown hair fell around perfectly round, feminine cheeks. The thief recognized her immediately._

_"Oh, what have we here? Looks like a bargaining chip has fallen into our hands."_

_ It took every ounce of Kid's will power not to just drop into the room below and rescue the sleeping damsel. The only thing that stopped him from doing something so reckless was the realization that such a course of action would no doubt result in both his and her death. He bit his bottom lip harshly as he tried to quickly think up a rescue plan that he knew would end successfully but was forced to accept that he was going to need to wait a little longer and maybe listen more about their plan. He had no doubt their plans would change now that they had a very real bargaining chip against him. _

_"Tie her up just incase she regains consciousness soon." The man Kaito couldn't see ordered the others. He watched as they quickly tied the girl up and taped her mouth shut before dropping her over by a wall so that she was in one of his many blind spots._

_What do we do with her until then?" One of the lackeys was asking. _

_"Just leave her in this room and keep it guarded. We lose this chance and it'll be your head the boss is after." The hidden man seemed to wave it off. "Now, I have to meet with the inspector to go over all the protocols." He said casually. Kaito heard his footsteps moving away and then the sound of a door opening and closing. That man was the one he needed to watch for. He tried to figure out how many people were down in that room and the approximate location of the now kidnapped girl. Once he had half of a plan in mind he dropped a flash grenade stuffed full of sleeping gas and pulled a gas mask over his head. He watched as the men ran forward to investigate the fallen object and waited for them to start dropping like flies before pulling the air duct open and dropping in gracefully. _

_He didn't waste time with theatrics this time as he glanced around for the girl, finding her slumped against a window dead asleep. He moved over to her quickly and peeled the tape off her pink lips and hastily untied her feet and hands before scooping her up into his arms and moving for the door. He pushed it open and slid right through it before ducking into a nearby janitor's closet and put the girl for safe keeping. He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. He locked the door and changed into riot gear before moving casually down the hallway in the direction he knew the inspector was in to tell him about the girl sleeping in the closet. After that everything should have been back on track but he was forced to stop and listen as he overheard the same man from earlier talking on a phone. Curiosity got the best of him and he pressed himself up against the wall and got as close to the door as possible all the while making sure he kept an ear out for unwanted company. _

_"The boss said he's tired of hide and seek." The man was saying. "It's time to start smoking out our enemies since he's pretty sure they've been trying to smoke us out. It doesn't matter that we don't have the kid. Just forage the records if you have too-we've got about a million dead bodies-or potentially dead bodies. Do a little plastic surgery he'll look just like him." What ever this man had planned it was obviously bad news for someone._

_"If we say we have the dental records then Kudo is more than likely going to step into the open-if not him then someone who knows where he is. Print the damn records and find a-hang on." Kaito felt himself freeze over, unable to move as what he'd just heard meant the detective was big trouble. He heard footsteps moving in his direction and immediately moved on instinct. The man came to the door and pushed it open to look around the hall, neglecting to look up or he would have seen the thief perched above his head. For the first time that Night Kaito was able to see the curly light brown hair and the top of the man's rimmed glasses. Unfortunately, that was all he could make out from his bird's eye viewpoint. _

_"We'll discuss everything later- this is too confidential to talk about over the phone. Meet me at the usual place." He hung up after he closed the door and Kaito let out a quiet sigh before soundlessly hopping down from his perch and moving a little farther down the hall. He needed to find out more about this plan and warn Kudo. He didn't waste time calling Jii and requesting he take over the heist for tonight so that he could follow the man after the life of the Detective of the East. _

_He didn't have to wait long before the man emerged again, this time he left the room and headed for the exit. Kaito quickly changed into a hood and black cap, keeping the rim pulled down low and tailed after the guy. When the man got in a car though, Kaito felt gravely discouraged but grabbed the nearest task force car, having made a key for every last one. He may not have had his license, but that didn't mean he couldn't drive. He had never actually followed someone in a car though, he supposed it would be best to keep his distance as much as possible. He pulled up a map on his phone to check his location and see what all was within an hour from the museum. Maybe, just maybe he could figure it out and take an alternate route to the same place. _

_Of all the places that were within the hour radius which would a person most likely choose for a secret meeting? Kaito racked his brain to try and remember every building and every street in the area. He made a left turn followed by a right and then another left. They hadn't caught on that he was following them, had they? He made sure to stay a few cars behind when given the chance. He glanced down at his phone's map and allowed himself to smirk. The abandoned construction site. Of course. He switched lanes and quickly turned right when they headed straight. Now that he had it figured out he didn't have to worry about following the man and made his own route. _

_He pulled into a building nearby the construction site in order to prevent anyone from seeing the car and snuck into the building, staying mindful of security cameras and the possibility of a few guards. He nearly walked right into the meeting room but stopped himself just as he heard two voices. One was definitely the same man as was at the heist so the other had to have been the man he'd been on the phone with. _

_"You sure you weren't followed?" The man from the heist was saying. _

_"I circled the building three times to makes sure, no one followed." The man confirmed, his voice a tad bit shaky. "But, if anyone identifies that body they'll know it's not the real Kudo-and my clinic will have a bad name!"_

_"Don't worry about your clinic, we'll get someone to fix our doll to have the same dental records-that way they won't have to look at fake ones." _

_"Is that possible?" _

_"With enough determination and work our organization is more than capable of such a simple task. But we need those records. If you didn't bring them then you won't be returning to Tottori." The man threatened the shaky one. _

_"I-I got them-I just… I don't think this is going to work." The other stammered. There was a sound of shuffling paper and Kaito guessed he had handed over Kudo Shinichi's dental records._

_"No worries. In a few days the body will be found in Yokohama and Kudo will have no choice but to come forward." The man was looking through the file. "Before we discuss anything farther, however, we should invite our guest in." Kaito froze. The man knew he was there? He knew he'd followed? This was a trap? He felt his heart rate increasing to an alarming rate and tried to calm himself. He stayed in his place in hopes that it was a bluff. Maybe the man had only suspected that he'd been followed. _

_"Not going to come out? That's fine if you want me to kill our little bargaining chip." The man snapped his fingers and Kaito could hear two other men enter the room. Bargaining chip? Surely they didn't mean-_

_"It'd be such a waste, don't think think Kid-san? She can't be more than sixteen and her death will paint your conscious." The man said casually, having no remorse at the idea he was threatening to kill an innocent girl. It couldn't be-there's no way they got a hold of her-not after he'd saved her already. "I'll give you until three." Before Kaito knew what he was doing he had changed back to Kid-guise and was moving quickly into the room, getting a good look at the man for the first time. Dark rimmed glasses went over squinted eyes and set a top a long face. "That's better." The man smirked cruelly, his gun pointed at the unconscious girl laying in a heap on the cold cement. _

_"How did you-"_

_"She woke up." He said simply. "Lucky for us, she panicked about being locked in a closet and started banging on the door. One of our… team members overheard her and recapture was easier than the initial capture." Kaito bit his lip as he looked at the girl he had thought was safe and sound in a janitor's closet. _

_"Leave her out of this. She's innocent." Kid spat, clearly nervous at the idea of a gun being pointed at the unfortunate girl. The man laughed and pulled the gun away to point at the thief. _

_"I never intended to shoot her." He said cruelly. "Especially since her safety seems to be of some use to us." Kaito's eyes narrowed at the gun now pointed at his chest. He didn't dare move or try to escape. He couldn't risk the chance it would put the girl in danger. "I'm not going to shoot you either. You think I'm that stupid? No doubt you're wearing a bullet proof vest." He tucked the gun away and instructed the others to grab hold of the girl. _

_"What do you want?" Kid growled, his eyes on the men touching the sleeping girl as the pulled her up so that Kaito could see her face. _

_"Information. But, I'm sure you don't have the information yet so, for now I'll let you go and we'll be in contact again later."_

_"…And the girl?" _

_"She can go home with you. My organization doesn't do kidnapping-at least not the traditional way." He nodded that the two lackeys and they dragged the girl over to Kid. Kaito gracefully took her from them and held her like a bride. "Now run on back to your heist… oh and, Kid? Breathe a word of this to anyone and we won't hesitate to kill your little princess." Kaito narrowed his eyes at the man but slowly backed away and headed for the exit. _

_He carried back to the car he'd borrowed and placed her in the backseat, frowning heavily at her still-sleeping face. How she could sleep through everything he'd never know. He started to close the door but stopped a sudden, horrible realization. She had been wearing riot gear when he put her in the closet and now she was wearing her normal skirt and sweater. Had they taken the gear off? Or had she done it? His eyes traveled down to her thighs and his cheeks turned a little red. Stupid girl. He was probably worried about nothing._

_ …._

_Just in case though, he leaned forward to grab the hem of her skirt to see is she was sporting any new bruises or traces of blood near her-WHAM! Kaito staggered backwards in a complete daze as it registered that she had just KICKED him! His hand flew to cover the right eye where her foot had made contact with his face. "B-baka! Aoko!" There was no way that wasn't going to give him a black eye. _

_"Stay away from-!" Aoko froze as recognition set in and a look of horror over took her previously dangerous features. "K-Kaito?" Oh… shit. He realized a moment too late he was still in kid guise. He lowered his hand from his face and looked at the hurt expression on her face as he could see everything click into place in her head. "Wh-why?" _

_"….Yeah. It's me." He finally confessed after a long moment of nursing his bruising eye. "You sure kick hard." He tried to tease her but her eyes were suddenly downcast it was obvious that wasn't going to work this time. _

_"I-I thought that you were going to-"_

_"I know what you thought I was doing." He assured her, watching her closely as she shook her head. _

_"U-Um.. Kaito? Y-you're… aren't you?" Her voice seemed shrink and he felt guilt beyond anything he had ever felt before pour onto his head as he watched her eyes fill with tears. There wasn't any reason to lie to her. Not anymore. _

_"Yeah…" He said softly, not really wanting to admit the truth. "I-I never did it to hurt you! I swear Aoko, I never planned this." Aoko wiped her eyes as they had started to overflow with tears and Kaito swallowed a particularly large lump in his throat and felt his own panic start to rise as she started to cry. "Please! Give me a chance to explain! I'll tell you everything!" _


End file.
